


hey, be a man

by readyforthefall



Category: Young Justice - All Media Types
Genre: Fluff and Angst, Hurt/Comfort, I totally forgot about this until i opened it wondering what it was so here you go, M/M, Prompt Fic, this is unbeta'd and im so sorry
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-11
Updated: 2018-07-11
Packaged: 2019-06-09 00:29:02
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,445
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15255405
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/readyforthefall/pseuds/readyforthefall
Summary: A mission goes wrong; Jaime takes the blame. Bart loves his friends and food too much to stay bitter. Cute shenanigans ensue.





	hey, be a man

**Author's Note:**

> Hey so, I'm a mess and I still don't have a beta! But it's okay! 
> 
> Anyways, this is just something I wrote quickly after scrolling through a million different angst prompts (the one I chose is the first line), so I'm sorry if it doesn't make any sense... and for that reason, I would love feedback from y'all if you can spare a minute! Feel free to contact me on my Tumblr as well, @friedsandwich! 
> 
> This is my first pic in the young justice universe, but I heckin love bluepulse and im on the edge of my seat for season 3!! come scream with me about it!
> 
> Also, if you recognize the title I will love you forever.

“ _I’m not cut out for this.”_

It had been a long day. The mission had gone utterly wrong, several team members were in the medbay, and they- no, he- had let the bad guys get away. Jaime felt embarrassed for screwing up so badly, and guilty for endangering his teammates; he had run off the second they had zetaed back.

Now, he was curled up, still in his armor, sitting in a secluded corner of the cave where the aquatic vehicles parked and the memorials of the fallen heroes stood. His face was unmasked but resting on his knees so no one would see it if they walked in. His breathing had finally stopped coming in staccato shudders but his grip around his legs was still white-knuckled. The cave was silent, save for the echoing of the water and Jaime’s breaths against the cold floor. _Good,_ he thought _, the last thing I want is to listen to someone tell me all the ways I fucked up._

Normally, he could expect the team to be supportive; they would all tell him it wasn’t his fault and they would bond over some of M’gann’s cupcakes. Nightwing would go over the mistakes, but not in an effort to make the Team feel bad, just to help them learn. They would all come out feeling exhausted but more knowledgeable. This time, that wasn’t the case.

Not only were several of his teammates injured, but Impulse had sustained several injuries, been knocked unconscious, and possibly had internal bleeding- Jaime hadn’t stuck around to find out. The worst part? It was Jaime’s fault. He had told Impulse he would cover him, and then stupidly let himself get distracted. Before he knew it, one of the goons had snapped an inhibitor collar on Impulse and thrown him halfway across the warehouse. The slam of his body against the hard metal wall had immediately turned Jaime’s attention back to Impulse, and he felt a sharp pain in his chest when he didn’t get up.

 _Get up, man. Don’t do this to me_ , he frantically thought. The scarab was telling him something, but Jaime could no longer hear it. The only thing he was listening for anymore was Impulse’s familiar babbling in his ear. He tried to run over, tried to shake him awake, grabbed his face through his cowl and yelled his heart out to _wake the hell up_. Someone was pulling him away, telling him they had to get back. The mission was over.

How had either of them not been fast enough to catch the inhibitor collar make its way to Impulse’s neck? How could Jaime have left him, let him get hurt?

Nobody had reassured him on the flight back. Nobody had talked at all.

Now he sat, still on the cold cave floor. He felt hot tears fill his eyes and leak out onto his face as he remembered his mistakes. He barely noticed the tap of footsteps coming closer and eventually sitting next to him. The other person let out a sigh and Jaime looked up on instinct.

Nightwing.

“Hey,” he started softly, “I just thought you’d want to know… They got Impulse stable. He’s not awake yet- he’s pretty banged up, but he’ll be okay. These things happen, Blue. It’s not the end of the world, I promise.I’ve screwed up enough times to know that.” He offered a small smile. Jaime took a shuddering breath.

“You? The Boy Wonder? Messing up? That’s funny.” He scoffed, trying to keep his voice from breaking. _Bart’s okay,_ he thought to himself. Nothing else mattered. The mission, the guys who had been attacking them, the inevitable lecture from the Batman… “When can I, uh, see him?” Jaime asked quietly. Nightwing’s smile changed from pitiful into… something else, something more knowing.

“I mean, he’s not gonna be able to respond right now, but-“ Jaime stood up abruptly, then looked down in embarrassment, his face growing hot.

“Uh, sorry.” He said quickly. Nightwing laughed easily, then shooed him off to go see Impulse. Jaime ran off to the medbay as quickly as possible, wishing for once he had Bart’s superspeed. He couldn’t decide whether he wanted to see him out of guilt, to make sure he really was okay, or… for some other reason he couldn’t figure out yet.

 _This is irrational,_ the scarab scolded him, _Jaime Reyes has already been informed of Impulse’s status. There is no need to check again, and the running is a waste of energy. Recommend stopping immediately and retreating._

Jaime told it to shut up and kept running, almost slamming into several other team members on the way. His breath stopped as he approached the door to the medbay. His mind wasn’t working, but his feet continued to carry him into the room. His eyes (and the scarab) told him that yes, that was Impulse- that was _Bart._

He was resting on a bed, his eyes closed with his head half-wrapped in bandages. God, what if he had a concussion? Most of his body was covered by the white sheets, and he was wearing a hospital gown instead of his suit. He looked so small and fragile, and Jaime felt a tug at his heart as his eyes scanned over the other boy’s body. _My fault._

Miraculously, Bart decided to open his eyes at that moment. Jaime didn’t know if he felt relieved or terrified. What if Bart was mad at him? What if he didn’t want to see Jaime, told him to get out of the room? Jaime regretted every time he’d felt annoyed at the other boy for talking too much, for fidgeting, for following him around like a lost puppy, all because it had come to this.

“Blue! Hey, you look like you’ve seen a ghost…” Bart managed, his voice a bit rough. Jaime’s chest ached again as Bart stared at him with that same dopey expression he always had. The one that made him look so much younger than he really was, like he hadn’t seen all the horrors of this world’s alternate future. “ You’re, uh, still in your suit, by the way. Everything okay? I’m surprised you didn’t hit the showers, that was a pretty rough mission-“

“God, nothing’s okay! You almost died! Do you realize that?” Jaime interrupted sharply. He felt tears coming back into his eyes, but he forced himself to hold them back. Bart looked at him in shock, having gone completely silent. Jaime didn’t know if it was worse with him not talking at all. Bart shifted tensely in the bed, turning his eyes away from Jaime. He bit his lip and opened his mouth to respond, but Jaime cut him off again. “It was my fault, so don’t even try to spin this.”

“Wasn’t going to,” Bart replied in a hushed tone. He looked almost angry now, his eyebrows furrowed and his mouth tight. “I just didn’t want you, like, beating yourself up for something like this. _I’m okay._ It’s nothing I can’t handle, and it’s all part of the job anyways, right? I mean, I know they tell you superheroes are invincible and all that, but even a speedster’s gotta take a punch sometimes.” He tried to force a laugh, but Jaime just glared.

“Yeah, except it wasn’t _just a punch_ , ese. You- you wouldn’t wake up. And of course I’m beating myself up! If it wasn’t for me acting like an idiot, you’d be okay!” he growled. Bart didn’t respond, he just stared at Jaime with a look he couldn’t decipher. It almost looked like pity, but his eyes were glimmering a bit with tears and he looked like he might break all over again. Jaime sighed and sat next to him in the armchair provided. “I just think sometimes that maybe… I’m not cut out for this. I’m still trying to figure out the whole scarab thing, and I have no one to help like you do. I just keep messing up.”

Bart shook his head and moved his arm to grab Jaime, but Jaime quickly pushed him back down into the hospital bed as the scarab listed off ways to eliminate the threat. He didn’t want to risk the speedster getting hurt again for trying to console him.

“C’mon, _her-man-oh,_ you’ve got me! I know I’m not a beetle, but like I said, I’ll keep you from feeling the mode. I meant it. Besides, having an adult telling you what to do is overrated.” He gave a smile, a real one, and Jaime felt some of his anger subside. “And who cares if you mess up? The Team’s got your back. _I’ve_ got your back.” Bart continued quietly.

“But- the mission-“

“ _Dude._ We’re both okay, you can relax for a while. Pretty sure it’s Nightwing’s job to worry about the missions. Look, once I get out of here, how about we do something crash? You can show me how people have fun in the past.” Bart grinned, wiggling his eyebrows suggestively. Jaime blushed and rolled his eyes. He pointed out that it wasn’t the past anymore; besides, Bart’s future didn’t even exist anymore, so that made his “past” comment completely irrelevant anyway. Bart tried to reach out again to playfully shove him, and Jaime forced him back into bed once again.

“I’m just glad you’re okay.” He whispered, and Bart’s smile was different this time. The scarab warned him about his increased heart rate and the blood flow to his face, and Jaime shushed it yet again.

+++

Bart was up and running again within a few days thanks to his speedster’s healing rate, so of course he fulfilled his promise to hang out with Jaime. It had somehow slipped Jaime’s mind that _as soon as I get out of here_ meant _literally the second I’m fully healed_ in speedster-talk, which is how he found himself staring at Bart on his house’s front steps at 12:07 pm on a Sunday.

“Uh… hi?” Jaime managed to finally say in an amused tone. Sure, he had (somehow) missed the other boy’s presence, but he still wished for at least a warning so he could have planned something a little cooler than just hanging out at his house. His entire family was still around, for one thing; it was a good thing Jaime had been the one to answer the door. Bart flashed him a blinding smile.

“Hey! So, Iwasthinking, we should totally get something to eat, I don’t know about you but I’m _starving_ and the food I ate in recovery didn’t really help, I mean it’s up to you and you probably know all the best places to eat around here so-”

“Slow down a second, dude,” Jaime laughed. “Yeah, I know a couple good places. We can walk to this one diner I know, if you want.” Bart enthusiastically agreed to the food, but put up a fight for a while about walking there. He argued for several minutes that it would be much faster to run/fly there, and Jaime reminded him again that secret identities were a thing. Finally, Bart groaned and gave up, settling into a comfortable pace (for Jaime).

Jaime filled him in on his life, his _actual_ life outside of being a superhero, and Bart listened as best he could before bombarding him with more questions. For once, Jaime didn’t mind. It was nice to have this presence next to him filling the silence and helping him forget the stress of his other life, which was ironic considering the fact that Bart was also a part of the Team.

At the diner, Bart marveled over the all-day breakfast options and Jaime apologized to the waitress for their immense order. She had simply laughed and dismissed it with a comment about “growing boys,” and had proceeded to wink at Bart. He grinned brightly back at her, and Jaime flushed at the whole exchange.

Jaime lightly teased Bart about his fast eating once everything finally arrived at their booth, saying that he would be eating alone for the next half-hour if Bart finished eating at his normal speed. Surprisingly, Bart actually slowed down a bit. Of course, he still tore through his waffles like a starved animal, but Jaime could actually see him eating instead of it being over within a second. They talked in between bites; Bart told him about his and Barry’s plans to go sightseeing halfway across the world after a quick run and Jaime described his school and friends, which were somehow incredibly interesting to Bart.

“There weren’t schools there, y’know,” Bart replied after Jaime had jokingly asked why he cared so much about his school day. _In the future,_ Jaime heard, though Bart never said it.

“You don’t have to talk about it, Bart. You probably don’t want to.” Jaime said softly. Bart forced a smile, and Jaime felt pain in his chest as he thought about the horrors he had endured. Bart had reminded him several times that he was _not the same Blue Beetle_ , that what had happened in the future wasn’t his doing or his fault. Bart set down his utensils and rested his hands next to his plate, and Jaime felt an overwhelming need to hold them in his. They looked so small and soft, not at all as if they had survived years of pain and torture. Instead, Jaime waved the waitress over and asked for the bill.

Bart hurriedly asked for a milkshake before they paid, and the waitress happily agreed and brought them an enormous concoction of ice cream and various syrups in a tall glass. Jaime shook his head in disbelief.

“Do you boys want one straw, or two?” the waitress asked in a sugary-sweet voice.

“Two?” Jaime replied in confusion. She smiled as if she knew something and pulled two straws out of her apron. Bart happily dove into the milkshake, but Jaime hesitated as the waitress walked off, willing the warmth in his cheeks to disappear. “Why would she ask if we wanted one?” he wondered aloud. Bart looked up at him, milkshake dripping from the side of his mouth.

“That couple over there is sharing a milkshake.” He suggested, his mouth full of the drink.

“First of all, you’re dripping milkshake everywhere. Second, _we’re not a couple.”_ Jaime rolled his eyes and pushed a napkin towards Bart’s face. Bart didn’t take it, he just stared strangely at Jaime. “Oh, _por dios-”_ Jaime reached forward and wiped the offending liquid off of Bart’s face himself. The waitress decided to return at that exact moment with the finalized check.

“Here you go, boys! Hope you don’t mind me saying, you two are _adorable!”_ she stage-whispered. Bart grinned at her, and Jaime tried his best not to internally combust.

+++

The two boys were now walking aimlessly through town, and a silence had finally fallen over them. Jaime kept trying to tell himself that what had happened at the diner was nothing, _yes nothing so that means shut up_ , he silently told the scarab. Yet every time he looked over at Bart, he couldn’t help but obsess over the waitress’ words, the way he’d wanted to reach out for Bart, his _smile…_

_Crap._

“It was a compliment, right?” Bart blurted out. Jaime glanced over.

“What?”

“The waitress. I mean, maybe we are a little _mature_ to be called cute… but I’d say we’re both fairly attractive dudes!” Bart explained, gesturing at them both. Jaime stared, horrified.

“She, uh… wasn’t calling you cute, man. She was… calling us a cute couple…” Jaime finally managed to force himself to say. Bart stopped in his tracks, returning Jaime’s look with an equally bewildered one.

“Oh. _Oh.”_ He said quietly. Bart’s face looked as red as Jaime’s felt. His face was twisted oddly. “And, uh… we are definitely _not_ a couple.”

“Yeah, no, ese.”

Bart kicked up some rocks with the toe of his sneaker and refused to look up. “Well, Iwouldn’tmindusbeingacouple.” He mumbled. He finally made eye contact with Jaime, his eyebrows furrowed with a pained expression on his face. If only Jaime had actually understood what the hell he’d just said, maybe he could fix things.

“Sorry, what? Didn’t get that.” Jaime asked. Bart blinked quickly, and then flashed him a quick, forced smile. He vibrated nervously and said, “Nothingdon’tworryaboutitseeya!” and sped off before Jaime could demand more answers. Jaime groaned and walked another ten minutes back to his house.

 _But would I mind us as a couple?_ Jaime wondered. Maybe then he would have had the courage to take Bart’s hand and ask him about the future. Maybe then Bart would have actually answered instead of awkwardly changing the subject. So Jaime allowed himself to imagine it; he thought of gently taking Bart’s hand and pulling him close after a mission, of splitting a milkshake and thinking nothing of it, of telling Bart how much he had missed him and having him really know exactly how much.

Jaime continued imagining at his desk chair, absentmindedly organizing some school papers and thinking of what it would be like to have Bart sitting on his bed talking endlessly about his day.

“Hey, dude.”

Jaime swore violently and tumbled out of his chair, hitting his head on the side of his desk.

“Jesus, Bart, this is why you can’t just phase into people’s rooms!” He hissed, hoping his family would ignore the loud crashing that had just occurred in his room. Bart quickly apologized, helping Jaime up.

It couldn’t have been more than 15 minutes since Bart had fled the scene, and he was already back and carrying food. Jaime raised an eyebrow at him.

“I brought donuts? Sorry for making you fall.” Bart said shyly, handing over the small box of donuts as a peace offering. Jaime shook his head, laughing quietly. He took what looked like a glazed donut and took a bite out of it, then handed the box back to Bart, who settled on Jaime’s bed and began working at the three other donuts. “I just um, realized that I might have run off kind of quickly there. And I thought that I probably shouldn’t leave you hanging like that, not when I have to tell you something.”

“Oh, uh, I gotta tell you something too, actually,” Jaime found himself saying before he could stop himself. _Crap._ “So what did you want to talk about? Your future? Because I’m here for you, man, and I can take it. I’m ready, shoot.”

Bart looked up at him, confused. “The future? No, it’s something else,” He wiped his hands on his jeans and tossed the empty donut box in the trash can, standing up and moving towards Jaime. He was extremely aware of how close they were to each other. “I don’t know how this stuff works now, but where I come from it wasn’t easy to, um, _be with someone._ My parents risked everything for me, you know? So I learned to take that kind of stuff seriously. And I’ve been thinking a lot, and um-”

“I like you.” They both blurted out at the same time. Jaime immediately began his internal freak out.

“What?” Bart looked at him incredulously.

“Yeah, I was thinking, like you said…” Jaime trailed off, looking away. “I was thinking it wouldn’t be so bad.” He could practically feel Bart’s face light up.

“Oh, dude! _So crash_!” He pulled Jaime into a bone-crushing hug. Jaime was surprised and stiff at first, but soon reciprocated and wrapped his arms around the smaller boy’s frame. He laughed softly into Bart’s shoulder, and Bart hummed contently. He was warm and actually still for once, until he pulled away and took Jaime’s hands in his. He started talking at superspeed, saying he had to go tell the Garricks and Barry and did he want to come along on their run? Bart assured him he could carry Jaime if he got tired, and Jaime snorted and squeezed Bart’s hands.

“One thing at a time. How about for now, we split a milkshake?” Jaime gave him a knowing smile.

“Actually, I’ve got more of an ice cream craving right now.” Bart grinned back. “And I’m pretty sure the Team’s freezer just got restocked. Wanna share a pint?” He paused and grinned mischievously. “On second thought, how about a quart?” Jaime agreed and the pair set off to pop in a movie and eat as much ice cream as they could. The only way they could both reach was if they sat with their legs touching and the tub in the middle, and well, that was just fine with Jaime.


End file.
